Rob D

Sorry to hear that. These do seem to fail prematurely before their time - from warranties we have worked out around 0.3 t - 0.4% of all Sugi bars sold. This is around the same return rate we get for Stihl and Oregon bars. When greasing the only thing to remember is that if there is excess grease in the nose run the saw very slowly initially to allow it to clear. This excess grease causes massive friction. It can also have a hydraulic effect on the bearing. This is probably the main cause of nose failure and why in some ways it is safer and easier to not grease regularly or even at all.

On the Echos and other saws I've now found an excellent method of getting the sprocket off and no need to block the piston. An impact driver on the nut (of the sprocket removal tool) and because of the way the force is applied the resistance of the piston is enough for the clutch to come off. It has saved us a crazy amount of time given all our smaller saws we tend to change over to 1/4 drive sprockets.

Fair enough.... but did you used to speed when you weren't retired and you did have places to get in a hurry? Honest answer please

That's the truth of it - but we all do it! We all think it's fine to speed - just not outside our own front door!

Not heard anything about that....

Well done Justin - great work sir And well deserved if I may say sir (doff my cap smilee!)

I used to run a fair few Cannon bars and they are not as durable as the Sugi bars in that they needed regular dressing. I didn't find them as stiff either... But they are still good bars... I'm not sure there is a best of the best guide bar - same as chain and same as chainsaws - there are better bars for certain situations and for certain people!

Hi Al - we'll be getting the carving range back in in 1 months time. But ref the rest I'm not sure we'll keep them - $ is still very strong... The reason the bars are still up there is really so you can still get the chains for them easily in the selector.

Spud's the man to ask - I wouldn't have a clue! If you lengthen the exhaust does it not effect how the air flow behaves? I'm not sure it is as quite so simple as bolting on a bit of pipe! It would be great to have the saw exhausting say at the far end of the mill and then that would save all fume related issues.

Haha! Too true...

Or at least not poisoning yourself as much anyway

Yep that sounds about right but I can see why that would not suit some folk as that is a long time... but those saws will most likely go on for ever!

After 10 years I'm still using Aspen 2T. Just so much easier and healthier espcially for milling. Worked out for a 12ft by 3.5ft plank 2.5" thick it costs an additional £1.50 to mill it using Aspen over regular... Def a marmite product ain't it!

Haha - great work made me smile just looking at them!

You could just start off with small log mill and a 20" lo pro bar/chain/drive sprocket for your 362. That would mill logs up to 18" and be pretty efficient to boot.

Hi Stuart - it's a bit of a weak area really in that with milling there is no set formats/courses/nowt! But no doubt you'll be able to find someone on here if you stick at it.

I've seen your threads on the hours you work Stefan - but at some point something is going to stop you - and this will be signals from body and mind saying enough is enough... You can try to re train your perspective - I remember when I used to have x3 or x4 good earning days in a row - perversely if the next x2 or x3 days went badly and I earnt less I was unhappy - saying to myself 'I'd have had one of the best weeks if these last few days had been better' - not a good way to look at things! I bet if you finish a job early say 3pm instead of going home and enjoying more time off you look for another job to squeeze in. If you keep working the hours of a workaholic then you will become a workaholic - ie you will not know what to do with your free time even if you have free time! Say there were some magic vitamin pills and other concoctions to make you feel less tired and have more energy - what would you do? You'd do even more work and then feel tired again! So really you need to start to pace yourself in life - haha which is a lot easier said than done!!

All the new Echo saw models fire up well straight out the box - they are nothing like the older models. They still will not reach full power until bedded in but they 'feel' and work well straight away. This includes the 2511TES, 390ESX, 501SX - much more usuable straight out the box than previous models. The CS281WES and 620SX take a little more bedding in. A few people have said the CS280T is not a great saw but mainly I think because these older Echo models do take an age to bed in. It's probably not bad after a while...

We are starting to send all our Echos out - if all our customers could but the CS280 or send it back and we'll send straight out to you. I can't quite believe that these are coming out with a carving bar and Oregon 25AP chain in time they will be fitted with the Sugi bar and chain but still a head scratcher - why spend all the time bringing out a great saw to do this to it! [ame] [/ame] We have these 10" 1/4 .043 bars here GROUP 0 Echo chainsaws Archives - Sugihara Guide Bars

Order the 42" from here Chainsawbars selector for chainsaw guide bars, chains and sprockets Ignore anything ref pre order - an error passed on from the other website!

Thanks Steve - not really thought of high lift wedges - we will bear in mind. I will add the 42" option for the MS880. Cheers for the feedback.

You'll need a 1/4 drive sprocket for the Echo 280TES - we have these but not on CSB website yet... Will try and add on Monday.

The chains will be the same at £0.29 per drive link for now Dan. We want a few people to start using these to see what feedback is like.

Unfortunetly due to rising costs brought on by the dropping exchange rate we will be increasing most Sugihara bar prices by 10%. This is across the board and will happen on Monday. So just a heads up if you were just about to get one. However - we will be doing offers on some of the range. We bought in a lot of 1/4 pitch bars - this so you can run a 1/4 sprocket nose bar on the same saw as your carving bar. But most folk seem to just dedicate their carving saw(s) to carving bars. We also still have too many 14" R7 bars for small Stihls/GB 1/4 .043 sprocket nose bars. All special offers can be found here Special Offers Archives - Chainsawbars on the new chainsawbars website.

Some good points here. Chain making to do it right is very costly and difficult to get right. Sugihara have started making their own chain and from what they told me it has been a lot lot harder than they originally thought! On the whole the independant bar makers have their hands full making bars. It is a whole new direction to try and make chain. Differences in bars are subtle - weights are different/stiffness/durability/looks/'feel' Differences in chain are much larger - but if you have what is the best chain for you and your saw - the next thing to look at to improve performance is the bar. It's not that applicable to a home user - but for those using a saw each day those subtle differences in what bar you use can make a difference.